Today is the anniversary of my answering a knock and finding St. Niklaus at my family’s door when we were living in Germany, more years ago than I’m going to admit. The visitation was magically disorienting. We lived in a building that required buzzing guests in through both a locked gate and the front door, and yet somehow a bishop in full regalia had found his way to our hallway. Not only that: he spoke English and had our names in his book.

The oranges and nuts he delivered quickly disappeared, but the wonder survived. Learning how this happened actually enhanced the specialness of that moment in time. He was a university student hired by the neighborhood, and our landlady had made a point to include my siblings and me in his rounds. Her considerateness is as unforgettable to me as the brain-addling sight of the fabled saint in the flesh.

Possibly this memory was stirring when I got the urge today to set up my first ever holiday shop. It’s got pictures of my assistant and my usual holiday decorations, and I’ve included one of my favorite games (Adventure Elf!), which you can play on the page.

My astrology videoblog ignited into reality on Friday the 13th. The idea had been kicking around for almost a year. It took the march of planets through the last degrees of Aries to make it happen.

Last week transiting Mars (action) in my second house (my talents and earning potential) trined my natal Jupiter and Pluto (over-the-top expressions of power and transformation) in the sixth (daily work). Full-blown ideas for a half dozen videos erupted, down to props and camera angles. On Friday the 13th (I do love that date), Venus (women, money, values, art) and Mercury (communication) made trines to Jupiter/Pluto as well, and the astrological symbolism spread like wildfire throughout the day (and, apparently, my psyche).

The first stage was lunch with two female colleagues, an Aries bankruptcy attorney and a Scorpio business coach, the latter of whom kept bringing the conversation back to setting a value on our services, speeding up the time frame for financial goals and taking imperfect action instead of waiting for ideal circumstances. (Don’t you love the magic realism of astrological aspects?)

That imperative seized the day. “I’ll get around to it someday” turned into a couple of test shoots and diving with the Fool’s confidence into my first solo edit using iMovie, which I haven’t even opened since my only One-to-One training session for the program two years ago. I set up a new YouTube channel to house the blog, The Professional Aquarian, and sent out the first wave of announcements of the new arrival.

On reflection, I now see that the launch was right on schedule. When Mars, Venus and Mercury sparked my Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, they also set off the degree of last December’s Gemini lunar eclipse. The trio completed a grand trine to the Sun’s position then, in my 10th house (public life), and sextiled the Moon’s point in my 4th (home). And what happened at that eclipse? I received a group gift from my siblings and the media-savvy quasi-family member who had first suggested the blog: a video camera.

The solar eclipse coming on June 1 is conjunct my Mars. December’s lunar eclipse is on my MC/IC. This rocket ship is heading to points unknown. I have a good feeling about this!

As I was driving out of my subdivision this morning, I saw a swan walking on the outside edge of the opposite lane. His gait was ungainly and slow. As he approached the reason came into view: His left foot was gone. He was hobbling on one webbed foot and a stump. He swung himself laboriously from one side to the other, each step taking him only a short distance forward. He was silent, persistent, taking no notice of the

A car pulled up behind me, so I abandoned my immediate plan to take a photo of him, pulled onto the main street and swung back around. By the time I returned he’d cleared the barrier and had waddled down the bank into the water, which he was moving through slowly but more gracefully.

An astrological metaphor in action: Neptune, the god o’er the water (and waterfowl, perhaps?), and Chiron, master of physical wounding, converging in the form of a one-food swan determinedly pulling himself back to water. Not complaining. Working with what he had. Still functioning in this physical world. An inspirational icon for us all.